Reports By Year > 1995

Below are a set of links to all reports published by KHRG matching your search criteria and compiled from information received from KHRG's field researchers. If you wish to search for a particular report, please use our main search page.

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There were 40 reports in 1995. These are listed below.

REPORT TITLE	DATE
The Effect of Foreign Investment in Burma  [Article or paper]	Oct 1st, 1995
Everyone has heard the argument that economic sanctions never work, that the best way to encourage dictators to change their policies is to give them lots of money, then ask them to change, then give them even more money if they refuse. Economic sanctions only hurt the poor, the big investors tell us, while investment dollars "trickle down" from the generals and help everyone. Not only is there no evidence anywhere to support this argument, but in the case of Burma foreign investment directly leads to suffering.
Notes on Burma Tourism  [Article or paper]	Oct 1st, 1995
Despite the situation in Burma, a growing number of tour groups are planning tours capitalizing on SLORC’s "Visit Myanmar Year 1996". Some tour companies appear to have picked up on the SLORC’s promotions and are fervently promoting these tours.
Country Report on Human Rights: Burma  [Article or paper]	Oct 1st, 1995
Burma is a country where many nationalities live together. Half of the population is Burman, who live in the central plains and valleys, and the rest are from about 15 main ethnic groups, most of whom live in more hilly regions. Historically, Burma was never a single country until the British annexed it in 1886. After independence in 1948, the Burman leaders started making policies favouring the Burmans and making everyone else into second-class citizens. So one by one the non-Burman peoples went into revolution demanding equal rights. By the 1970s, there were more than 12 ethnic groups fighting against the Burmese government. They had their own governments and controlled alot of the territory outside of central Burma.
The Current Human Rights Situation in Burma  [Article or paper]	Sep 5th, 1995
The Karen Human Rights Group is an independent human rights monitoring and reporting group based in Karen-held areas of Burma. It gathers and reports testimony and information directly from villagers regarding the human rights situation. Our focus is on the southern and eastern regions of Burma, and most of the villagers we deal with are non-Burman, such as Karen and Mon people. However, we also collect firsthand information from Burman and other ethnic groups whenever possible, and have found that a similar climate of systematic and horrendous human rights abuse exists nationwide. This document summarizes some of the current trends in the human rights situation applying throughout Burma.
The Current Human Rights Situation in Burma: Executive Summary  [Article or paper]	Sep 5th, 1995
SLORC is using the release of Aung San Suu Kyi to divert attention away from what is really happening in Burma right now: resumed and intensified offensives against ethnic peoples, further expansion of the army, intensified repression and clampdowns against people nationwide, and the further collapse of the economy. The human rights situation is rapidly worsening, with rapid increases in forced labour as military porters and servants, forced labour on development and infrastructure projects, extortion which is driving villagers further into destitution, land confiscation for military-run farms operated with forced labour, and other abuses connected with these activities such as killings, torture, rape, arbitrary detention, and abuse against children, women, and the elderly.
Myawaddy-Kawkareik Area Update  [Regional or Thematic report]	Aug 6th, 1995
This report can be considered as supplementary to the report "SLORC/DKBA Activities in Kawkareik Township", KHRG #95-23, 10/7/95. The Myawaddy-Kawkareik area is in central Karen State, not far west of the Thai border. The following account of the current situation there was given by a Buddhist Karen officer in the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) in an interview on July 15, 1995.
Karen Human Rights Group Commentary  [KHRG Commentary]	Aug 4th, 1995
SLORC continues to show no remorse whatsoever for its continually expanding program of civilian forced labour throughout Burma. Roads, railways, dams, army camps, tourist sites, an international airport, pagodas, schools - virtually everything which is built in rural Burma is now built and maintained with the forced labour of villagers, as well as their money and building materials. Forced labour as porters fuels the SLORC's military campaigns, while forced labour farming land confiscated by the military, digging fishponds, logging and sawing timber for local Battalions fills the pockets of SLORC military officers and SLORC money-laundering front companies such as Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd. Even farming one's own land is more and more becoming a form of forced labour, as SLORC continues to increase rice quotas which farmers must hand over for pitiful prices.
Conditions in the Irrawaddy Delta  [Regional or Thematic report]	Aug 4th, 1995
The following is from an interview with a 56-year-old man from Myaungmya Town, deep in the Irrawaddy Delta west of Rangoon, who left the Delta in June 1995. The Irrawaddy Delta is populated by a few million people, 50% of them Karen and 50% Burmans. In recent decades it has been sealed off from the outside world more than almost any other area of Burma, and the Tatmadaw (Burmese Army) has been able to get away with any form of repression it likes.
Life as a Criminal Prisoner  [Regional or Thematic report]	Aug 2nd, 1995
Escaped convict "Maung Aung Shwe" (not his real name) arrived in a Mon camp in February 1995 after escaping a forced labour camp on the Ye-Tavoy railway. His story gives some insight into the life and thoughts of a criminal prisoner in Burma. Some names and details of his story have been omitted to protect the people involved.
Conditions in the Gas Pipeline Area  [Regional or Thematic report]	Aug 1st, 1995
The Gulf of Martaban in the Andaman Sea is rich in undersea deposits of natural gas not far off the coastline of southern Burma's Tenasserim Division. Seeing this as a potentially major source of income, SLORC has been keen to exploit this resource as quickly as possible. It has negotiated multi-billion dollar contracts with French oil giant TOTAL, as well as Unocal of the USA and Thailand's PTTEP. Typically, rather than have the gas go to the people of Burma the SLORC plans to pipeline it to energy-hungry Thailand, where it will be used to fuel a new facility being built by EGAT, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand.
Ye-Tavoy Railway Area: An Update  [Regional or Thematic report]	Jul 31st, 1995
This report focusses on conditions for civilians in the Ye-Tavoy railway line area through the 1995 dry season. In order to give a better idea of the lives of people in the area, the report includes not only testimony specific to the forced labour itself, but also other abuses and living conditions experienced by villagers in areas which must provide railway labour. As though the forced labour on the railway itself were not enough to make them flee, they also have to face monthly extortion demands by SLORC troops which far exceed what they can earn, looting, threats, and forced labour as porters and at army camps. The report also includes testimony from two former SLORC soldiers in the area and two prison convicts who were brought to the railway as forced labour.
Field Reports: Mergui-Tavoy District  [Field report]	Jul 29th, 1995
This report is an amalgamation of some of the interviews and information in several recent reports released in Burmese by the Mergui-Tavoy Information Service, based in Karen-controlled areas of Mergui-Tavoy District in southern Burma's Tenasserim Division. The Mergui-Tavoy Information Service is an agency which operates under the Karen National Union's Mergui-Tavoy administration; however, it gathers its information directly from villagers and officers in the areas concerned, and its reports are accurate and consistent with information gathered through sources not affiliated with the KNU. Therefore, in order to help this information get wider distribution KHRG has translated it and prepared this report.
Karen Human Rights Group Commentary  [KHRG Commentary]	Jul 22nd, 1995
Everyone in the world who is interested in Burma, and even many people who aren't, are now talking about the release of Aung San Suu Kyi. But for most of the 40 million rural villagers in Burma, that is all very far away and there are more immediate and important issues to think about - like survival until next week. In Burman areas villagers are starving under the weight of SLORC demands for extortion money. Shan villagers are under increasingly heavy attack by a huge SLORC military force which is burning their villages and taking them as porters (with the tacit consent of the international community, which seems to consider all men, women and children in Shan State villages to be heroin-trafficking fiends).
SLORC / DKBA Activities: Northern Karen Districts  [Regional or Thematic report]	Jul 18th, 1995
This report covers some recent events in Papun (Karen name Mudraw), Thaton, and Nyaunglebin (Karen name Kler Lwe Htoo) Districts in the northern half of Karen State and part of Pegu Division. It focusses on the effects on civilian villagers of the ongoing activities and collaboration of SLORC and DKBA - the 'Democratic Karen Buddhist Army', formed in December 1994 by the monk U Thuzana but primarily operating under the orders of SLORC.
SLORC / DKBA Activities in Kawkareik Township  [Regional or Thematic report]	Jul 10th, 1995
Kawkareik Township lies in central Karen State, west of Myawaddy, and the area covered by this report lies near the Thai border just north of the Pa'an - Myawaddy car road. The Thai National Security Council and the Thai Army are planning to commence forced repatriation of Karen refugees to this area and others in the 1995-96 dry season, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees office in Bangkok has already indicated that it will most likely cooperate in this "refoulement" operation.
SLORC Orders to Villages: Set 95-E - Extortion, Threats, & Censorship  [Orders report]	Jul 2nd, 1995
Following are the direct translations of SLORC written orders sent to Karen villages in areas south of Kawkareik (central Karen State) and east of Thanbyuzayat (in southern Karen State). Most of the orders were handwritten, except the anti-KYO orders, which were typed. All of them were signed by SLORC officers, and most are stamped with the rubber stamp of their units.
Life as a Village Head  [Regional or Thematic report]	Jul 1st, 1995
The following information on life as a village head was given by a woman who used to be a village headwoman in Kawkareik Township, central Karen State, and is now a refugee in Thailand. We have published it in this form because it is very consistent with information given by village heads throughout the country, from many different regions and from areas where fighting is going on and those where it is not. Note that almost none of what she says has any direct relationship to fighting going on between SLORC and opposition forces.
Field Reports: Papun & Nyaunglebin Districts  [Field report]	May 25th, 1995
While attacks on Manerplaw, Kawmoora and Karen refugee camps in Thailand have attracted the most attention, SLORC has continued its normal offensives in other areas as well, such as Nyaunglebin District, 200 km. northeast of Rangoon and up to 100 km. west of the Thai border. At the same time it has been carrying on a major offensive throughout Papun District well north of Manerplaw in order to occupy areas previously controlled by the Karen National Union.
Murder of a Refugee by SLORC  [Regional or Thematic report]	May 24th, 1995
On May 22, 1995 a meeting of the Thai National Security Council was held in Bangkok. It was chaired by Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai and attended by the NSC, armed forces chiefs, and representatives of the Foreign and Interior ministries and the military Supreme Command. The meeting decided that as the situation in Burma has "almost returned to normal", the Thai Government will begin mass forced repatriation of Karen refugees as soon as SLORC agrees to "accept them back".
SLORC Orders to Villages: Set 95-D - Ye-Tavoy Railway / Gas Pipeline Area  [Orders report]	May 22nd, 1995
Following are the direct translations of some typical SLORC written orders received by villages in southern Burma's Tenasserim Division, along the route of the Ye-Tavoy railway line which is currently being built with forced civilian and convict labour, and in the area where the SLORC / Total / Unocal gas pipeline from the Martaban Gulf is to come ashore en route to Thailand.
Photo Set 95-A  [Photoset]	May 12th, 1995
This document gives descriptions for Photo Set 95-A, covering the fall of Manerplaw, porters, new refugees, attacks on Karen refugee camps, the fall of Kawmoora, SLORC abuse of Karen refugees in late 1994, and Chin State.
Karen Human Rights Group Commentary  [KHRG Commentary]	May 9th, 1995
SLORC is now directly involved in planning, preparing, coordinating and executing acts of international terrorism. Its role in the attacks on refugee camps in Thailand cannot be denied, despite all its claims that the attacks are only the work of the DKBA ('Democratic Kayin Buddhist Army'). Eyewitnesses have seen SLORC soldiers participating in almost every attack, while letters and orders from SLORC officers have referred to their 'control' over the DKBA. Furthermore, the latest wave of attacks, which employed several hundred men operating on different parts of the border with mortar support from a SLORC-controlled area on the Burma side of the border, simply could not have been planned and coordinated without direct SLORC involvement.
New Attacks on Karen Refugee Camps  [Regional or Thematic report]	May 5th, 1995
Since its inception in December 1994, the 'Democratic Kayin Buddhist Army' (DKBA) has tried to get all Karen refugees in Thailand to return to Burma, almost certainly at the prompting of SLORC. If the refugees return, SLORC stands to gain alot of international legitimacy while simultaneously obtaining alot of free labourers for its military 'development' projects. Initially the DKBA tried to use agressive persuasion and threats. Then when that didn't work quickly enough, DKBA and SLORC began attacking the refugee camps, kidnapping or killing camp leaders and religious leaders, shooting refugees and threatening everyone with further attacks.
SLORC Orders to Villages: Set 95-C - Mon Area: Ye-Tavoy Railway, Other Forced Labour, etc.  [Orders report]	May 2nd, 1995
Following are the direct translations of some typical SLORC written orders received by Mon villages in southern Burma's Tenasserim Division, along the route of the Ye-Tavoy railway line which is currently being built with forced civilian and convict labour, and in the area where the SLORC / Total / Unocal gas pipeline from the Martaban Gulf is to come ashore en route to Thailand. All of the orders were signed by SLORC officers or officials, and in most cases were stamped with the military unit or local LORC stamp.
SLORC Orders to Villages: Set 95-B - Newly Occupied Areas, Papun District  [Orders report]	May 1st, 1995
Since December 1994, SLORC has been conducting a widespread offensive west of the Salween River to occupy northern Karen State's Papun District [see the related reports "SLORC's Northern Karen Offensive", KHRG #95-10, 29/3/95, and "Porters: SLORC's Salween Offensive", KHRG #95-12, 8/4/95]. In the process, SLORC forces have occupied areas which were previously strongly under the control of the Karen National Union, such as the Kyauk Nyat area not far south of the Kayah State border.
Summary of Types of Forced Portering  [Article or paper]	Apr 11th, 1995
Forced portering has come to be known as one of the worst forms of human rights abuse by the Tatmadaw, or Burma Army. Many people have heard the constant reports of civilians kidnapped, driven to the frontline like cattle under heavy loads of ammunition, forcibly starved and then killed as soon as they can no longer carry. In our reports, villagers and SLORC written orders often refer to "permanent porters", "operations porters", and various kinds of conditions experienced during portering, and it is useful to have an understanding of what all this means.
Porters: SLORC's Salween Offensive  [Regional or Thematic report]	Apr 8th, 1995
Since December 1994, SLORC has been conducting an offensive west of the Salween River in northern Karen State, aiming to secure this entire region adjacent to the Thai border. Fighting began here before the final offensive against Manerplaw and is still continuing, at least sporadically, even now. SLORC troops have now occupied virtually the entire region along the Salween River adjacent to Thailand.
SLORC's Northern Karen Offensive  [Regional or Thematic report]	Mar 29th, 1995
The purpose of this report is not to describe the military details of the fall of Manerplaw and other areas, as these subjects have been covered elsewhere. Instead, this report focusses on the effects on the civilian population of this year's SLORC/DKBA offensive in the Moei and Salween river areas along the Thai/Burma border.
Porters: SLORC's 6th Brigade Offensive  [Regional or Thematic report]	Mar 22nd, 1995
At the beginning of March 1995, after taking Manerplaw and Kawmoora, SLORC began an offensive against the Karen National Union's 6th Brigade area, 50 to 100 km. south of the border town of Myawaddy, where the KNU had set up its new mobile leadership headquarters. Several SLORC Battalions were sent to the area and are now attacking throughout the region. The KNU leadership has already moved on but the attacks continue to intensify, making it clear that this is not just an offensive aimed at the Karen leadership, but at all Karen-controlled areas.
Chemical Shells at Kaw Moo Rah: Supplementary  [Regional or Thematic report]	Mar 20th, 1995
Medical and clothing samples from some of the soldiers exposed to the gas attack at Kaw Moo Rah are still under analysis overseas, and no results have been communicated to us as yet. However, some further pieces of information have been provided by various sources.
SLORC Abuses in Chin State  [Regional or Thematic report]	Mar 15th, 1995
In late 1994, KHRG helped to provide equipment and training to a few Chin individuals who are interested in documenting the human rights situation in Chin State. Since then, we have begun receiving reports and photographs from the area. This report contains the first installment of this information. While the Karen Human Rights Group focuses its activities primarily on Karen areas, we are always eager to document the situation of all peoples and areas of Burma whenever firsthand information is available. We hope we can continue to help the Chin people to disseminate information on their homeland, which is largely ignored by the outside world.
Porters: Manerplaw and Kaw Moo Rah Areas  [Regional or Thematic report]	Feb 25th, 1995
In December 1994, SLORC began a major offensive against Kaw Moo Rah, then in January 1995 it began a major offensive against Karen headquarters at Manerplaw. Both strongholds were overrun, Manerplaw on January 27 and Kaw Moo Rah on February 21. SLORC has claimed that they were not involved in these offensives other than to provide 'logistical support' to the breakaway Karen troops of the 'Democratic Kayin Buddhist Army' (DKBA) whom it claims overran Manerplaw and Kaw Moo Rah all by themselves. However, the porters interviewed in this report say otherwise: they were used by several different SLORC Battalions in the assault, but not one of them saw a single DKBA soldier.
Chemical Shells at Kaw Moo Rah  [Regional or Thematic report]	Feb 24th, 1995
In December 1994, SLORC started a major offensive against the Karen stronghold of Kaw Moo Rah, just north of the Burmese border town of Myawaddy and the Thai town of Mae Sot. Kaw Moo Rah had held out for years against the siege of the Burmese military and frequent heavy offensives, and this year’s offensive was again proving a major failure, with SLORC suffering hundreds of casualties without gaining any ground - because Kaw Moo Rah is a spit of land surrounded on 3 sides by Thai soil, with an open killing ground on the fourth side.
Karen Human Rights Group Commentary  [KHRG Commentary]	Feb 5th, 1995
Manerplaw has fallen. The world was caught napping, mainly because it happened faster than anyone could imagine. The main factors were the monk U Thuzana and the ‘Democratic Karen Buddhist Organization’ (DKBO). Apparently the SLORC had been supplying U Thuzana with money and food for some time to set up ‘refuges’ where Buddhist villagers could flee from SLORC abuses, and SLORC suddenly wouldn’t bother them anymore. As a result, the villagers decided U Thuzana had magical powers. Then he began ordering them, other monks and Karen soldiers to rise up against the Karen National Union (KNU). Hundreds of Karen soldiers went to his cause, disgruntled with years of sitting on hilltops to defend Manerplaw with pitifully inadequate supplies by order of KNU leaders who seemed not to care about their needs.
Escaped Porters: Kaw Moo Rah Battle  [Regional or Thematic report]	Feb 4th, 1995
In December 1994, SLORC troops resumed their heavy offensive on the Karen border stronghold of Kaw Moo Rah, sometimes known as Wan Kha, just north of Myawaddy and the Thai town of Mae Sot. SLORC has held Kaw Moo Rah under siege, with regular offensives and heavy shelling, for years now. The SLORC Army regularly uses human waves of teenage conscripts, often drugged and sometimes armed only with hand grenades, to try to take Kaw Moo Rah. As a result, SLORC casualty figures have been massive, but Kaw Moo Rah still holds.
Reports from Nyaunglebin District  [Field report]	Jan 31st, 1995
The following testimonies were given by civilian villagers in Nyaunglebin District (Karen name Kler Lwe Htoo District), northeast of Rangoon and Pegu along the Sittaung River. Names which have been changed to protect people are given in quotation marks. All other names are real. Some details have been omitted from stories to protect people. All numeric dates are written in dd-mm-yy format. Please feel free to use this report in any way which may help the peoples of Burma, but do not forward it to any SLORC representatives.
Field Reports: Thaton District  [Field report]	Jan 25th, 1995
The following testimonies and information have been gathered by our human rights monitors from civilian villagers in the Bilin River area and eastward toward the Salween River, in Thaton District of Karen and northeastern Mon States. Names which have been changed to protect people are given in quotation marks. All other names are real. Some details have been omitted from stories to protect people.
Myawaddy-Kawkareik Area Reports  [Regional or Thematic report]	Jan 15th, 1995
The following testimonies and information have been gathered by our human rights monitors from civilian villagers in the area between Myawaddy, opposite the Thai border town of Mae Sot, and Kawkareik, about 40 km. to the west in Karen State. Some of the people interviewed are now in refugee camps in Thailand. The Myawaddy-Kawkareik road, though not much more than a dirt track in many places, is a key SLORC transport route between Moulmein and the Thai border.
SLORC Shootings & Arrests of Refugees  [Regional or Thematic report]	Jan 14th, 1995
There are currently over 60,000 Karen refugees registered in refugee camps in Thailand. These camps are scattered along the Burma border for hundreds of kilometres, from Kanchanaburi in the south to the Mae Hong Son area in the north. None of these refugees or camps are officially recognized by either the Thai government or the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. They only receive strict rations of rice, salt and fishpaste, little or no clothing or educational aid and extremely limited medical assistance, all of which comes from overseas agencies and is tightly restricted by the Thai Ministry of the Interior.
SLORC Orders to Villages: Set 95-A - Ye-Tavoy Railway, other Labour, & Extortion  [Orders report]	Jan 5th, 1995
Following are the direct translations of some typical SLORC written orders received by Karen villages, copies of which have been obtained by the Karen Human Rights Group. All of the orders were signed by SLORC officers or officials, and in most cases were stamped with the unit stamp. Photocopies of the order documents themselves may be enclosed with this report, and if not they are available on request. Where necessary, the names of people, villages, and army camps have been blanked out and denoted by ‘xxxx’ to protect the villagers.
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